An excellent fantasy that marks a return to coherent form over Spirited Away (of which I was one of perhaps five Miyazaki fans who didn’t dig the movie–c’est la guerre), it’s about a young woman (Emily Mortimer) who runs into the Howl (Christian Bale) of the title and winds up with a curse placed upon her by the Witch of the Waste (Lauren Bacall). Her quest to return to normal leads her to meet an array of fantastic characters and of course, the normal other-things you run into in a fantastical quest: danger, villains, mayhem, and hijinks. Not necessarily in that order.

While it’s nowhere near the special edition we’re sure this thing got in Japan, this Buena Vista release gives you the most important part: the movie looking damn good. There’s also a short “behind-the-mic” featurette, interviews with Pete Docter and John Lasseter, a visit by Miyazaki to Pixar Studios, trailers, and the complete storyboards of the film.